another anecdote from the tales of a former jehovah's witness: by rayzorblade
we all have stories to tell about our witness days, don't we?
well, it occured to me, that i had one bizarre and rather unusual experience in the field service many moons ago.
Manitoba hillbillies? Hmm....
Oh yes, but of course: the ones from Flin Flon - makes perfect sense.
Not sure, is our forum grandmother from Manitoba? I know she's about a little under 2 hours away from me here in Toronto, but I know that there are hills where she lives. Oh well...we'll see if she follows up with something here.
Manitoba hillbillies....LOL
i had an interesting chat with a jw on yahoo messenger yesterday.
of course, he was using "theocratic war strategy," at least at first, and pretended not to be a jw, but someone who was asking a lot of questions about them.
he opened the conversation by asking if i wanted to discuss 'the meaning of life'.
Yes, yes, yes...as stated regarding yet 'another' date or possible time frame for which grumpy ol' Jehovah will put his foot down and start another one of his child-like tantrums.
The thing I notice with these folks, is their on-going Personal Armageddon. Destruction of the mind by their tossing away of reasoning and critical thinking (to name just a few). Having the Borg dictate your edicts, it'll be a continual on-going whittling away of ones self-worth.
Armaggeddon, sure it's going to come.....and I am going to Jupiter for supper tonight. Bah!
I call these predictions and doomsday believers, walking personal armageddons. No ambitions in the present life, just stop living your OWN life and WAIT and Wait and wait. Sad.
gidday to all you "apostates"....or should i say "truth-seekers" on j-w.com .
i have been "lurking" on this board for about 3 months and i finally feel ready to say something about the situation that i am in right now.
it's rather tenuous because i was recently baptised <1yr ago.
Hello Hoodwinked, and welcome to the forum.
Wow...what a neat story, and what a great way to introduce yourself.
I'm happy that you have been lurking; one wants to be sure, but it becomes obvious what the general theme and nature of this forum is. It's like a family after you participate, and it is made up of all different kinds of people.
A sense of humour does one well here. It's also a place where people can express their disappointments, concerns, doctrine debates and other topics without the scrutiny of the elders. Well...we do have 'elders' here, but of a different type. These are the ones who let you get away with 'naughty' deeds and encourage you to pursue them.
Like yourself, there are many on here whom have family in the Borg, so of course, you have your reasons to be careful and approach things the way that you are doing. Good idea.
Glad you are here, and I hope this won't be the last we hear of you.
Your post was wonderful, and made my first morning coffee...that much more enjoyable.
SYN: thought of as a member of the female persuassion LOL
i just wanted to say hi.
this is my first message.
i have been df for about 14 years.
Hey Nappy...welcome to the forum.
I too had been out of the JWs for a long time, almost 20 years.
Glad to see you here, and hope you'll stick around, it's lots of fun around here, but there's always interesting topics, debates, discussions and wonderful people.
when i was quite young, (about 8 years old) and i was told about the abel being favoured by god, cain getting jealous and killing abel story, i couldn't help but wonder why god was so hard on cain.
i am certainly not condoning cain killing his brother, but since god made both the animals that abel was offering and the veggies that cain was offering, why was cain looked down on?.
also, why did it seem better to god to kill an animal that abel offered, as opposed to thinking, well at least cain is only wasting some food.
It's good that people are posting things scriptural, because...well...people who are basing their question and belief through the bible, need some objectivity.
OK...wrench in the fan. Sorry folks.....
All I have known, when looking into the bible or observations re: god - there's a lot of killing, or imminent disaster or disfavour from god.
god creates so-called 'perfect' couple, who fall to a once 'perfect' angel. god can't really make anything 'really' perfect because one has to wonder: is god perfect?
Like man, me thinks...god is imperfect, which leads me to wonder if we 'created' HIM?
The whole Cain & Abel discussion is interesting and worthy of consideration, so many questions eh?
Cain dis-Abels - and god is NOT a vegetarian, 'sorry Abel...you're toast!!'
we hear how the miracle of the truth changes people.
those that had animalistic qualities have become sheep.
those that had violent tempers learned real self-control.if you're not a "believer" anymore, have you ever wanted to just smack a person because they irritated you?.....there is one co that i wouldn't mind whacking, still, after all these years.
Oh yeah...many times.
I remember in one congregation I was in way back, there was this one brother, he was employed by another brother (janitor work, surprising isn't it?).
This brother, I'll give him the name: Brother Bucktooth. The elder who ran the show: Brother Fair&Square.
Brother Fair&Square, was decent. As an elder, he was actually a pretty decent guy, and he was never negative towards me. But, he hired Brother Bucktooth, who was from a small community outside of the small city I lived in. He had a ton of kids, and the wife was perpetually knocked-up.
Brother Fair&Square hired a bunch of us Witnesses, and a couple who were not.
Because he was so busy, he had Brother Bucktooth, basically supervise us.
HE WAS A PRICK!
He always acted decent when Brother Fair&Square showed up. But Brother Bucktooth coming from the land of hay, piglets and outhouses, developed quite the chip on his shoulder. He was very authoritative. He was bossy, and like Jehovah...you could NEVER please him and he'd scream at you to clean 'such and such' again, because it was unsatisfactory.
Brother Bucktooth looked the guy from "Ernest Goes To Camp". We swear he could open pop-bottles with his teeth.
There are times where he riled me so badly I wanted to sock him. He was such a dick. But you know, that's not 'good Christain behaviour'. Someone, I think, one of the sisters finally had enough and went to Brother Fair&Square, and the Bucktoothed varmint, was the following week, moved to another cleaning location. (City Sewage Plant)
Years after being a JW, I had a few skirmishes. I don't like to go there, because honestly, it's not good for you. Besides, you never know who can get hurt or worse. Best to back away if you can, and if possible, avoid the situations period.
But yeah, there were a few I wish I could have pummelled with a rubber crutch.
Don't think I'm alone on that one.
i am starting sessions with a psychologist in a couple of weeks.
i still have so much anger that i've been trying to deal with on my own for nearly ten years; well, technically for almost 28 years.
it is now manifesting itself in anxiety and depression.
Hey Starfish. Yup, ol' Rayzorblade has been gone for counselling.
You know what, when I first went, I would not talk about my JW involvement, I was too ashamed. Poor doctor was so confused.
Later, I devulged that I had been a JW, then the floodgates of understanding and 'plan of action' were put into place. Glad I did seek help, it made the world of difference, and I stopped being so damn angry all the time.
Feeling much better. If anyone is considering this: I strongly encourage you to do so.
i saw this on another board and thought i would share.................................
http://money.cnn.com/2003/03/05/news/money/index.htm
i think it looks like monopoly $
Not a bad idea.
Up here in Canuckistan (CANADA), we've had coloured money (paper bills) for a long-long time.
Not sure if it'll take off in the USA, but I'm sure that if they do implement it, they'll get used to it. We no longer have a $1 or $2 bill: they are now coins.
We recently changed our $5 dollar bill, and the $10 dollar bill before that. Unfortunately, our $20 dollar bill is still going to have Liz on it (damn). The other higher denominations, will probably change over time, I'm sure.
congrats on canadas win against bangladesh and all the best against newzealand on monday - i'll be rooting for nz!.
http://www.cricket.org/link_to_database/pictures/db/022003/042123.jpg.
http://www.cricket.org/link_to_database/pictures/db/022003/042497.jpg
Most of the time, if you ask any Canuck about cricket, they think of: insects.
The game, we kind of know of it, but it's not popular. If I didn't see this post, I wouldn't have known we even had a team. Occasionally you'll read a snippet about it, but trust me.....it's probably the last sport listed in our papers/television/radio (if at all).
OUTLAW: um...yup...you were right - I wouldn't even question our claim to fame in cricket.
Give me hockey anyday. NOW...there's where Canadians begin to froth at the mouth and go bananas.
As far as cricket being 'all the rage'...um...in Canada...don't think so...don't hold your breath or anyone elses.
Toronto Maple Leafs are sucking big time lately....ugh! OUTLAW...this is terrible! Aztec never lets up (Detroit Red Wings fan).
Rayzorblade
as a jw, i was always on the outside, looking in.
i never belonged and boy, did they make sure i knew it!!!.
all my life i have been an outsider.
Rebel, the need to feel accepted and belong is not an unreasonable request.
But for starters: right here, on this forum.
I'd say, you are beginning to fit right in.
You're more than welcome here.
